I'm sure I ticked off one or two of the Charah shippers with the last chapter. But that was one of the ideas I wanted to cover with this story. Just like in the first story, "Chuck vs. the Alpha Version," I expanded on a concept that I found in the show or that people have discussed. In that story, it was the concept of Stephen Bartowski having his own old-school flash. It seemed a bit odd the first person a scientist would test something on is themselves (Bruce Banner not withstanding), and that's where the story got its origins. In this story I wanted to explore the topic of Chuck and Sarah being together and how that would affect their jobs. The question has been raised many times regarding if one of them had to seduce someone on the job. I thought I would turn that around a little bit and ask the question, "Is there a situation where not only would one of them know the other would seduce or kiss another person, they would approve of it?" Not sure how that particular situation played out, but I thought it was an interesting concept to explore.

Only one chapter left after this one. This chapter has a lot of action in it. Enjoy, and please leave reviews.

Wynn Hotel
September 19, 2010
3:00 PM

Sarah returned to the room with several weapons and pieces of surveillance equipment. Casey was on the phone in his room procuring vehicles from the local NSA office. Chuck and Jimmy were huddled in front of the computer looking at satellite images of the warehouse where the exchange would take place in two hours.

"Is there anything else you can get from the warehouse?" Sarah asked.

"Nothing more than we already know," Chuck replied. "There isn't enough heat being picked up from the thermal imaging satellites to detect any sort of elaborate network setup or surveillance system. In the warehouse, there are only a few bodies inside. If they have others, they could be in a spot where the satellite can't see them."

"That, or they'll wait until the last moment to send those people in," Jimmy added.

Sarah nodded. "Unfortunately, there are only a few satellites accurate enough to pick up something as small as a mouse in there, and we don't have enough time to have those re-tasked for our use."

Jimmy was lost in thought. "I wish there was a way to make this more than just rescuing Forrest. You know damn well Beckman wouldn't approve of this. I don't want her hanging you three out to dry."

"Unless we can come up with something, let's keep things simple. They don't know we're aware of their plans. For now, it's best to just play dumb."

Jimmy smiled. "Finally, something I'm good at."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Chuck, would you…"

"No problem." Chuck smacked Jimmy in the back of the head without turning away from the monitor.

"Hey, I got fired this morning. Aren't I allowed one or two?"

"NO!" Sarah and Chuck vehemently replied at the same time.

Jimmy quietly growled. "I gotta find new friends."

"Tired of us already?" Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it's just that I'll be three thousand miles away after this. Probably sitting at a desk hacking system after system and trying to steal information about what some terror group is planning to do. I'll need someone to drown my sorrows with at the end of the day."

Chuck turned toward Jimmy. He stared at him for a moment. "I think you just gave me an idea. Sarah, when did you and Casey plan to leave?"

Sarah checked the time. "About 90 minutes. We have to run some reconnaissance before Jimmy walks in."

Chuck stared at the monitor and ran some ideas in his head. "That might be just enough time. If Jimmy gives me a hand, I think I can come up with a way to get this mission back on track."

"OK, but we can't go past 90 minutes. I'll go check on Casey." Sarah exited the room. Jimmy turned to Chuck.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Can you rewrite the accounts to have fake account numbers?"

"Easily. But what good will that do? The first thing they're going to do is verify the accounts. If they don't check out, they'll shoot Forrest and me. If they do, well, they'll probably still shoot Forrest and me."

"All we need is for them to buy it for a few minutes."

"To what end?"

"Well, while you're conducting the panty raid, I'm going to install the cameras with Lamar and Wormser."

Jimmy gave him a weird look. "Oooo…kay. Just make sure I'm not Booger in this scenario, willya?"

North Las Vegas
September 19, 2010
4:00 PM

Inside the warehouse, Kolinova and Melekhin escorted Forrest to a location near the center of the warehouse about 100 feet from the door where they expected Jimmy to enter. Two men with automatic weapons stood behind her with their guns pointed at her. Petrov was near a small table with a laptop computer resting on it. Kazanov entered and walked back and forth in front of Forrest like a drill sergeant inspecting a soldier.

"You should look on the bright side, Anya. Things are about to get a lot more difficult for your government. They'll be stretched thin throughout the world, and operatives like you will be left out there with nobody to help you. Better to lose your life now mercifully than to spend years in captivity, being tortured every single day until they decide you're no longer worth the effort, and leave to you a painful death. Our country has lost too much in the last 30 years. It is time to change that."

Wynn Hotel
September 19, 2010
4:15 PM

Chuck put the final touches on his plan. Jimmy handed him the altered accounts, and Chuck integrated them into the special memory stick he had prepared for the exchange.

"There we are. Hopefully, that will tip the scales. All you have to do is hand it to them and make sure they run it. After that, you just have to get them to confess the link to Ogarkov on the record."

"Good work, Chuck. You can be very devious when you want to be."

"Maybe I've been hanging out with Casey too much lately. Or Morgan. We have to keep tabs on him all the time. He's a little simpler, though. All he wants is an honest week's pay for an honest day's work."

"Wow, that is so shocking," Jimmy deadpanned. He appeared downcast.

Chuck looked at him. "You OK, Jimmy? You look a little out of it. That may not be the best thing given what we're about to do. You sort of are involved in it, you know."

Jimmy gave a little smile. "Sorry. It's been a crazy 24 hours. This isn't really how I expected the world of espionage to be. I just figured it would be find the bad guys, bring them to justice, and repeat until old or dead. I sure as hell wasn't expecting to do a Hugh Hefner imitation in the middle of a swanky hotel or learn how to be a complete bastard by making out with one of my best friends." Jimmy paused, feeling a slight shiver go through him. "And I want to apologize for kissing her, by the way."

"Will you stop that? She made you do it. It was something you needed to show you can step up to the plate, regardless of how afraid you are to do it. If it's any help, she still scares me quite a bit."

Jimmy smiled. "I would say she is the scariest blonde since Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. Unless you count Jessica Alba's acting."

Chuck laughed. "Well, I still consider myself lucky to be with her."

"Can't say I blame you. This has been a lot easier to deal with thanks to the three of you. I don't know, it just feels weird. I'm still not used to it."

"But you're good at this. You keep saying you can't do something, but then you turn around and do it. You just have to know you can do it beforehand and not stop yourself from trying. You know? You're like this big bear with these big fangs, and these sharp claws, and the world is just this little bunny sitting there, cowering, shivering."

Jimmy gave him a weird look. "Really, that's all you got? You're Trent and I'm Mikey?"

"Well, I could start quoting Casino, but I really don't think you want to hear my Joe Pesci imitation."

"Good point. At least you didn't suggest jumping out of a plane in my Elvis outfit."

"Ewww, man. No Nicolas Cage references. Ever."

Jimmy gave him a look. "Not even Fast Times at Ridgemont High? He was in that, you know."

"Gee, thanks for ruining that movie for me. Even Phoebe Cates won't get that out of my head now."

Jimmy laughed as Sarah entered the room. "Are you two ready?"

Chuck and Jimmy looked at each other.

"Let's go," Chuck replied.

North Las Vegas
September 19, 2010
4:35 PM

Chuck, Sarah, and Casey drove along Bonanza Street, taking care not to slow down or look around as they passed the warehouse. Chuck sat in the back of the car with a laptop, attempting to detect any surveillance cameras.

"There are no windows along the north and west walls until you get to the top of the building," Casey observed. "That will be the best place for me to get to the roof."

Sarah nodded in acknowledgment. "And once you've taken out anybody up there, I'll slip into the building. Jimmy, are you in position?"

Two blocks away, Jimmy sat in another car out of sight of the warehouse with another laptop and a portable hard drive attached to it. "Just waiting for Chuck to give me the IP addresses of their system."

"Got them," Chuck replied after several moments. "Transmitting them to you now."

"Thank you." A moment or two passes. "I'm in their system. Recording the video feed now."

"You only have 10 minutes of time to record, Jimmy," Sarah replied with some concern.

"Trust me. If I'm in there longer than 10 minutes, I'll be chained to a gravesite instead of a desk."

"Casey, are you ready?"

Casey was in the passenger seat, readying the rappelling equipment he needed to scale the outside wall. He put on his backpack and checked his Sig Sauer pistols. "Ready."

Sarah turned to hide the car behind a building two blocks away from the northwest corner of the warehouse. They waited for Jimmy's signal.

"The video is running," Jimmy replied a few moments later. "Checking the satellite image. There are four on the roof. Two of them are at the southeast corner, no doubt waiting for me to show up. The third is walking towards them along the south end of the building. The fourth is at your corner. Hang on. Now the fourth one is walking south away from you. It won't get any better than that."

"Got it," Sarah replied. She pulled out and drove along the street north of the warehouse. She slowed the car, and Casey leaped out. He sprinted to the building and pressed himself against the side to remain out of sight. Sarah floored it down the street and turned to meet with Jimmy's car.

"How are we doing?" Jimmy asked them as they pulled up next to his car.

"Everything is in place," Sarah replied. "It's all up to you now."

"Gee, thanks Sarah. I didn't think there was enough pressure on me already. I really needed some more, quite honestly."

"You'll do fine. Remember? You haven't made a mistake on this mission. Just stick to the plan."

"Yup. Give them the memory stick and let all hell break loose."

"Hey, don't sweat it," Chuck chimed in. "This will work. You know how to kill the bunny. Just go in there and get those digits OK? You're money."

Jimmy smiled and pulled out, driving towards the warehouse. Chuck and Sarah changed places in the car. As she got out of the driver's seat, she gave Chuck an odd look.

"Was that a Swingers reference you just used?"

"Yeah. It's Las Vegas. How can you not quote Swingers?"

Sarah tilted her head in amusement. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Mikey end up with Heather Graham at the end and Trent got fooled by the lady in the diner with the baby?"

Chuck suddenly got a little uncomfortable. "Oh, you saw that movie. I better work on my analogies."

"You think?" Sarah grinned as she gave the knife one last little turn into Chuck's pride. They got in their vehicle and waited for Casey's signal.

Casey looked in both directions to see if anybody was walking along the outside of the building. Spotting nobody, he armed his piton rifle and aimed for the top of building. He fired two pitons into locations just below the roof. Both pitons embedded themselves in the concrete, and he attached the rope to his harness. He began to make the 80-foot climb up the building.

Jimmy slowly drove the car to the door along 12th Street. He got out and kept his eyes open for any of Kolinova's men. He slowly walked inside the warehouse, and looked around for some sort of welcoming party. As he went into the main section of the warehouse, two of Kolinova's men stopped him and put guns to his head. He opened his jacket to show the gun he was carrying on a hip holster. They took his weapon and gestured for him to continue walking. They stopped him across the floor from Kolinova, Melekhin, and Kazanov.

Casey reached the top of the warehouse. He carefully peeked over the ledge to locate the four men keeping watch on the roof. One of them was heading towards his position. The man peered over the ledge to check the street. Casey grabbed him by the collar and threw him off the roof. Casey quickly pulled himself up on the roof and immediately took out his gun. He shot two of the men on the run and closed the distance towards the final man. The man pulled out his radio, but Casey kicked it out of his hands. Casey pivoted and landed consecutive shots to the face with each fist. The man was knocked out.

Casey got on his radio. "Bartowski, the roof is clear. Bring Walker in."

Chuck immediately pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the warehouse. He passed by Jimmy's car and let Sarah out. Sarah went in the same entrance as Jimmy and began to look around. She spotted a ladder leading to a catwalk above the main floor of the warehouse. She quickly went to the ladder and climbed.

"Mr. Murdock, so nice of you to show."

Kolinova showed a lot more cockiness than he did a few hours earlier. Having several guns aimed at Jimmy may have been the reason for that. To his credit, Jimmy remained calm.

"The pleasure is all yours, obviously."

"Do you have my accounts?"

"Let the lady walk over here first."

Kolinova took Jimmy's gun from the thug who commandeered it and pointed it at him. "You don't really think I'm that stupid, do you? Let's see the accounts."

Jimmy glared at him but pulled out the memory stick, which was instantly snatched by the man behind him. He tossed it to Petrov. Petrov inserted it into his laptop and started running the files.

"These look like the files, Mr. Kolinova." Petrov continued to verify the accounts. Kolinova signaled behind him, and the man behind Forrest pushed her forward. She stood next to Jimmy.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Forrest whispered angrily at Jimmy. "They're going to kill us anyway, and you're giving them the accounts? What the hell were you thinking?"

"Right now I'm thinking I may kill you first, so shut the hell up and wait a minute," Jimmy replied, trying to keep his anger in check.

"Enough!" Kolinova shouted. "You two can have your lover's spat after we're done."

"And how do you know your new bosses won't turn on you if this works out, Sergei? What use will they have for you after they've taken over the government? Isn't that right, Yuri?" Jimmy directed the last question at Kazanov.

Outside, Chuck's laptop beeped.

"Right on schedule, Jimmy," Chuck said with a smile. He began downloading the information being transferred.

"And how do you know who I am?" Kazanov walked up to Jimmy, his antagonism beginning to show.

"Oh, you'd be surprised what kind of information I can find, such as the link between you and Viktor Ogarkov. Isn't that who you're working with? After all, everybody thinks you were suicided 17 years ago. Dead men can't run for office, unless you live in Chicago."

Sarah snuck quietly along the catwalk with her gun drawn. She moved herself into a position where she had perfect aim at Kolinova.

Kazanov's anger suddenly died down. A smile came across his face. "It's a shame you figured all of that out and won't be able to tell a soul. Perhaps I won't be able to bring back the Soviet Union myself. But Ogarkov can, and he'll rely on me as a close personal advisor in order to reshape our country. The U.S. was badly wounded nine years ago for a measly couple of million dollars. Imagine what kind of havoc Ogarkov and I can create with $2 billion."

Chuck smiled at the recording over Jimmy's microphone, which just captured Kazanov's admission of working with Ogarkov. "I guess it's true in Russia as well; organized crime is an oxymoron."

Now it was Jimmy's turn to smile. "Of course, you're assuming you have the actual files. And as everybody knows, when you make an assumption, you make an ass out of you…and umption."

Forrest looked extremely upset and hissed at Jimmy. "We're about to be killed, and you're quoting crappy movies?"

"Would you rather we not bail your ass out?" Jimmy hissed back.

"Sir, we have a problem," Petrov looked up from the computer in a state of panic. He immediately pulled out the memory stick.

"Ah, a little too late there, Urkel. All of the data on that computer was just transmitted to CIA servers. I hope there wasn't anything important on there like, I don't know, your business dealings or your accounts where you launder money? Or lists of the people who work for you in Russia and abroad? The CIA and FSB are on pretty good terms these days, and they like to share a lot. It's all very Sesame Street-like."

Forrest shook her head. She couldn't believe they put all of this together in a span of 3 hours. Unfortunately, she didn't know how many rabbits they had left in their hats to pull out. Watching a dozen men emerge to join their boss suddenly made the probability of another miracle very slim.

"Oh, I have a text message," Jimmy boasted as he looked at his mobile phone. "It says, 'the nerd in me really, really wants to say checkmate right about now'." Jimmy shrugged. "Whatever that means. Personally, I'd use a colloquialism that's more in tune with the city, like 'You just rolled snake eyes' or 'I guess what happens in Vegas won't stay in Vegas'."

Kolinova's cockiness was completely gone and replaced with uncontrollable rage. "I thought it would be my pleasure to kill this bitch, but now I will take even greater pleasure in killing you!" Kolinova put Jimmy's gun to his forehead. Jimmy smiled.

Kolinova pulled the trigger. The gun clicked.

Kolinova's shock is replaced by the realization Jimmy never loaded the gun he knew they would take off of him.

Jimmy spun and grabbed the automatic rifle from the man behind him, whipping it around and nailing the man in the head with it. He pivoted and fired at the man behind Forrest before he could react. Kolinova pulled out his own gun, but Sarah opened fire, missing him by mere inches. Jimmy pushed Forrest towards a support beam while he opened fire at the men on the other end of the warehouse. Melekhin charged towards his boss and fired at Sarah. He led Kolinova and Kazanov out of the main area of the warehouse. Sarah ducked down out of the line of fire and ran along the catwalk. Jimmy exchanged fire with Kolinova's men.

"I'm going after that bastard!" Forrest quickly exclaimed as she ran in the direction of Kolinova. Jimmy gave her some cover fire.

Casey heard the shots below. He quickly went to the edge of the roof and retrieved his climbing rope. He fired two pitons into the roof on either side of a skylight. He cut the rope to the appropriate length and reattached his harness.

Outside, Chuck could hear the entire exchange and began to worry. He got out of the car and was ready to run in. He then saw the car Jimmy drove to the warehouse. The keys were still inside.

Sarah made it along the catwalk to a ladder behind Jimmy leading to the floor. Several of the men firing at Jimmy turned their attention towards her. Jimmy spotted them and looked behind him to see Sarah pinned back from the ladder. He pulled out the two guns hidden underneath his shirt. He looked up at Sarah.

"Two! One! NOW!"

Jimmy flew out from behind the support beam and opened fire on Kolinova's men, attempting to draw everybody's attention. It worked. The men shooting at Sarah turned their guns on him. Sarah immediately jumped for the ladder and slid down it to the main floor. She ran to the beam where Forrest was. Jimmy ran out of ammunition and looked back and forth. He was 40 feet from any sort of cover.

"Oh, that was stupid," he said as they were about to end his life.

A loud crash was heard from above, and Sarah had to duck out of the way of falling glass. Casey dropped through the skylight with both guns out, firing at will at Kolinova's men. Jimmy took the opportunity to sprint back to the beam next to Sarah. Casey unhooked himself from the ropes and joined them. The remaining men continued to fire.

"Like I said, we've got to be the dumbest spies on the planet," Jimmy said in a panic as he reloaded.

"Las Vegas P.D. must have heard the gunfire by now," Sarah breathlessly replied. "They've got to be sending someone."

"OK, who's up for going out Butch-and-Sundance style? I mean, besides Casey?"

"Wait," Casey stopped them. He suddenly listened intently on his earpiece. Sarah and Jimmy also heard the same thing he did.

Sarah was confused. "Why am I hearing a car engine…"

A loud crash behind them made them dive out of the way. Jimmy's car burst through the double doors where he entered and sped towards Kolinova's men. All of them dove out of the way, dropping their weapons in the process, as the car crashed into the brick wall at the other end of the warehouse.

Sarah and Casey immediately got up with their weapons drawn. Three of Kolinova's men ran out of the warehouse while the other five, including Petrov, lay on the ground in a daze. Jimmy readied his gun.

"I'll go get Forrest!" He ran off in the same direction Forrest did a few minutes ago. Sarah went to the car while Casey covered the men on the ground.

"Tell me he wasn't in this car. Tell me he wasn't in this car," she muttered to herself in a state of shock as she inspected the car. Under the deployed airbag, the surveillance recording equipment Jimmy was using was wedged against the accelerator.

Chuck slowly walked in from where the car entered. "Did that work?"

Sarah turned to see Chuck and was relieved. "You have GOT to be out of your mind."

Chuck was a little offended. "Oh, so Casey can send a car at us and it's OK? I didn't even get a chance to say a bad pun!"

Jimmy moved cautiously along a hallway in the warehouse, gun drawn, looking for Forrest. He made a turn down the hall and ran into two of Kolinova's men. One landed a punch on him, and he dropped his gun. He went after them, delivering a roundhouse kick to man who hit him and landing a vicious hook on the other. He recovered his gun and quickly ran down the hall. A third man emerged at the end of the hall and fired at him. Jimmy dove into a nearby office. He reached out with his arm to fire at the man, but he missed. The man slowly walked down the hall and entered the office, looking for Jimmy. Jimmy saw him enter behind the open door and emptied his clip into the door. The bullets penetrated the door and hit the man. He collapsed dead to the ground. Jimmy reloaded and continued down the hall.

Jimmy heard noises ahead of him. He moved quickly down the hall. A boot suddenly hit him across the face, and Jimmy staggered back. Melekhin emerged from behind a storage cabinet and delivered another roundhouse kick at Jimmy's head. Jimmy fell to the ground. Melekhin went after the prone Jimmy. Jimmy pushed off the ground and mule-kicked Melekhin back. Melekhin tried to land several jabs, but Jimmy blocked each one. He tried to deliver another roundhouse kick, but Jimmy caught his leg in mid-spin and brought his own leg up, connecting with Melekhin's head. Melekhin went down but bounced back up immediately. Jimmy went on the attack and landed a hook on Melekhin. He followed it up with a second hook and a third. Melekhin threw another punch, but Jimmy ducked down and brought his knee up into Melekhin's stomach, who doubled over. Jimmy spun in the air and landed a final boot at Melekhin's head. Melekhin went down and did not get back up.

Jimmy continued down the hall towards the voices. A figure emerged ahead of him in the hallway, and Jimmy pointed his gun.

"Oh, it's you." Forrest was relieved to see Jimmy instead of Melekhin. Jimmy looked around quickly as he walked towards Forrest.

"Where's Kolinova? I thought you were chasing him."

A man grabbed Forrest from behind and put a gun to her temple.

"Give me the accounts! Now!"

Kolinova was in an insane rage. He practically drilled the gun into Forrest's head. Jimmy was taken by surprise. He looked fearful. He dropped his gun.

"Now!" Kolinova screamed even louder than before.

"Don't do it! He'll kill both of us!" Forrest's voice shot up several levels of fear as well.

Jimmy was almost catatonic. Something in his mind had snapped. He pulled out the memory stick with the accounts on it. Forrest was awash in panic. Jimmy threw the memory stick towards Kolinova.

The memory stick landed two feet in front of Jimmy.

Kolinova's surprise was the opening Forrest needed. She knocked his arm up and dove out of the way. Jimmy reached behind his back and quick-drew his other gun and fired. Three shots went through the middle of Kolinova's chest. He slumped against the wall from the impact. He slid down as his blood covered the wall behind him.

Forrest slowly got up and peered down the hall at Jimmy, who lowered his gun and retrieved the memory stick. Forrest shook her head.

"The four of you took a huge risk in coming here. You shouldn't have done that. It would have been safer to leave me for dead."

"Yeah, and maybe we should have," Jimmy replied with considerable anger. "Or perhaps you should be thankful we don't always do the right thing. If we followed your orders yesterday, we would have…"

Jimmy saw Forrest's eyes go wide. She ducked down, and Jimmy whirled around to open fire at Kazanov behind him at the other end of the hall. Kazanov fired as well. Both of Jimmy's shots hit Kazanov in the head. All three of Kazanov's shots hit Jimmy in the chest. He collapsed to the ground. Forrest looked up.

"Slade!" Forrest crawled quickly over to Jimmy, who was not moving.